Arts on Main is a hub for Johannesburg’s creative community. It’s on the east side of Joburg city and the area is called the Maboneng Precinct.

I had the privilege to check out one of the hotels in the neighbourhood, called the 12 Decades Art Hotel. It’s literally the most interesting hotel I’ve ever been to.

The hotel seemed simple when I entered it. It wasn’t W Hotel, Ritz Carlton or anything like that. I felt like I was walking into a art gallery!

Go up to the room floors and you’ll see raw finishings. Very arty farty? Or very plain? =)

This is a very unique hotel because the rooms in this hotel are designed by some of South Africa’s most famous artists or designers and the individual rooms trace the history of Johannesburg from 1886-2006.

Each designer would interpret a decade and in his/her design for the room, the most prominent features of the particular decade in Joburg’s history would be illustrated.

The first one that I stepped into was Room #1946-1956.

This era 1946-1956 was one of the most disorderly periods in Joburg. The designer brought some humour in his design, focusing on love and hate for the city.

When have you ever seen a hotel window look like that?

The headboard of the bed had the skyline of Joburg carved on it. Even the bed light was in a beautiful shape of a building, blending in with the headboard nicely.

The bedsheet was a gigantic T-shirt. Read the text in the speech box! It said alot about the social environment of that era.

Arty farty carpet.

And a beautiful wall light.

I loved this room!

Next was Room #1936-1946.

This room was designed to look like a theatre. With a gorgeous chandelier light and elevated bed which you got on by climbing some small stair steps. Like going on stage.

The room was lush, dark and mysterious. It was inspired by a theatre movement in that era that was curbed by the laws of the apartheid system.

The next room was Room #1906-1916.

I literally entered a GOLD room. Like everything was gold. Even the wood was pine wood.

This room symbolised the era of the Gold Rush in Joburg. Everything was painted gold. And there was a huge shelf of pretty little gold objects. To view.. not to take. Haha..